Hello, friends! I thought that with all the Hugo voting being over last week, I’d have more time to catch up on all my non-day-job things, but I was wrong. Part of it, ofc, is because of our current news cycle. Being American, it’s hard not to get swept up in all the political drama that’s taken over the headlines recently. This excellent interview with David Mandel, one of the showrunners of the hilarious, award-winning comedy Veep, perfectly encapsulates my thoughts on the matter.
Fortunately, I did have a little time to hang out with my D&D friends over the weekend, even if we weren’t able to get in a full session of Ghosts Of Saltmarsh due to half the team being away. Instead, the rest of us tried out The Düngeonmeister Random Monster Generator: A Mix-and-Match RPG Flipbook by Jef Aldrich & Jon Taylor. We randomly generated a monster using percentile dice, and I had my three players’ level 2 characters fight it in a 60’ diameter arena. It was a lot of fun (helped on by my terrible attack rolls) and at the end I gave them all an inspiration to use in our next actual play session as a reward for helping me test out the book.
Afterwards, we played Castle Panic, which was a lot of fun, and Shifting Sands, a boardgame designed by my friend Brandon Jones, the creator of the Phase Shift RPG. Then I drove over to my Friendly Local Game Store, Dice City, to drop some cash on pre-ordering the Bloomburrow expansion that comes out for Magic: The Gathering tomorrow! I also got a great discount elsewhere on the MtG starter kit from 2022, and have been using it to pressgang various loved ones into playing with me, tho I think I’ll have to watch the tutorial video again because some of the rules still seem fuzzy. Idk if the rules have changed since last I played MtG competitively or if I’m just confusing them with the rules of the Legends Of The Five Rings CCG I “graduated” to: both are equally likely!
Reading-wise, it’s been lovely to plunge back into the world of children’s fantasy with A Year Of Diana Wynne Jones, a readalong organized by my friend Emily. I had a lot of thoughts regarding reader expectations and authorial guile after enjoying Witch’s Business, the first book I was able to join in on reading. I can’t access the next selection, The Ogre Downstairs, via my excellent local libraries, but am looking forward to reading Eight Days Of Luke with my friends the week after.
I also really enjoyed Jill Johnson’s The Woman In The Garden this week, a novel which does a surprisingly good job of getting readers to root for a protagonist who starts off being honestly kind of a creepy stalker. Former Professor Eustacia Rose is better at plants than at people, which is part of the reason she spies on her neighbors via the telescope she’s hidden in her rooftop poison garden. But when the main object of her attentions needs her help, will she be able to let down her guard and find a way to save her potential new friend?
Alright, I am wiped out, friends, and desperately need to crawl into bed and rest. My COVID test says I’m negative, but my body is feeling very much the way it did when I had COVID back in 2022. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious, but I should probably go lie down. Stay healthy and see you in seven, friends!
Currently Playing (Music): Vivaldi’s Concerto #7; Mozart’s String Quartet #1; Corelli’s Christmas Concerto; Vitamin String Quartet’s Bad Guy; Duomo’s Wildest Dreams; my Declan Rice playlist; Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet.
Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, Enigmas by David Kwong & Co, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, The Cartographer, Magic The Gathering: Puzzle Quest, Arena and CCG; Castle Panic.
Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Camp Elementa by me! Ghosts Of Saltmarsh; Humblewood.
Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): A Cup Of Flour, A Pinch Of Death by Valerie Burns; Witch’s Business by Diana Wynne Jones; The Day He Never Came Home by Andrew DeYoung; Afro Unicorn: The Land of Afronia, Vol. 1 by April Showers & Ronaldo Barata; The Düngeonmeister Random Monster Generator: A Mix-and-Match RPG Flipbook by Jef Aldrich & Jon Taylor; The Woman In The Garden by Jill Johnson; Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead.
a friend of mine just made a similar zine of monsters~! https://chaoclypse.itch.io/freak-folio